COMPOSE DECOMPOSE
The representation of time passing, light changing, germination, growth and decay are all of interest. Space is dense with pattern and texture, silhouetted and flattened, or translucent and refracted, viewed from above or seen up close. Delicate flowers and decaying food become dirt. Shadows and projections become form sometimes dense often dissolving. Objects contain memory and commemoration is fleeting.
These digital photographs relate to the previous series of toned cyanotype photograms, absence/presence, but are a more literal approach to the cycles and systems of nature and a further exploration of the way light sensitive materials depict vision and perception.
The 21st century digital process, is very different from the 19th century process of printing photograms in the sun on hand applied emulsions. Even so the digital process can provide a meditative experience. The culling and editing necessary when one can produce countless images so easily engages a quietly focused sort of imagination. The mark making and color palette that this digital process produces are reminiscent of earlier chalk and pencil drawings on black paper.
These images all come from my garden and environment and were made in a time of great slowing down. This place is a refuge and a revolution, a break from the cult of busyness that fills contemporary life. The surge in backyard, city and neighborhood gardens, the growing need to reduce the use of fossil fuels in producing and transporting food and the movement to convert distressed urban real estate into green spaces, all point to positive changes that can increase the health of the earth, communities and people. These images represent a direct experience of making dirt, germinating seeds, growing food, adding oxygen to the world.
They are metaphor and documentation, animal, vegetable and mineral.
Digital capture, 15”x20” Archival Pigment Ink Prints.
The representation of time passing, light changing, germination, growth and decay are all of interest. Space is dense with pattern and texture, silhouetted and flattened, or translucent and refracted, viewed from above or seen up close. Delicate flowers and decaying food become dirt. Shadows and projections become form sometimes dense often dissolving. Objects contain memory and commemoration is fleeting.
These digital photographs relate to the previous series of toned cyanotype photograms, absence/presence, but are a more literal approach to the cycles and systems of nature and a further exploration of the way light sensitive materials depict vision and perception.
The 21st century digital process, is very different from the 19th century process of printing photograms in the sun on hand applied emulsions. Even so the digital process can provide a meditative experience. The culling and editing necessary when one can produce countless images so easily engages a quietly focused sort of imagination. The mark making and color palette that this digital process produces are reminiscent of earlier chalk and pencil drawings on black paper.
These images all come from my garden and environment and were made in a time of great slowing down. This place is a refuge and a revolution, a break from the cult of busyness that fills contemporary life. The surge in backyard, city and neighborhood gardens, the growing need to reduce the use of fossil fuels in producing and transporting food and the movement to convert distressed urban real estate into green spaces, all point to positive changes that can increase the health of the earth, communities and people. These images represent a direct experience of making dirt, germinating seeds, growing food, adding oxygen to the world.
They are metaphor and documentation, animal, vegetable and mineral.
Digital capture, 15”x20” Archival Pigment Ink Prints.
Nancy Sutor
July 2010
